


Divine Intervention

by silvain



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Character Death Fix, Everyone Is Alive, Fix-It, Gen, I got emotional after Talks tonight and wrote my cleric saving Molly, Multi, spoilers for c2e26
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 08:24:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15335817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvain/pseuds/silvain
Summary: de·us ex ma·chi·na:an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel.Sometimes, if you're lucky, the gods send you exactly what you need. Even if it makes no sense.





	Divine Intervention

**Author's Note:**

> Finn is my cleric from my Exandria home game, set in Vasselheim about 10 years before campaign 1 and 30 before campaign 2. Right now, he's about to hit level 3 (hopefully this week!) but in this fic, he's level 20, in his mid-sixties, and a lot wiser and more mature.
> 
> And currently acting as a deus ex machina for the sake of Molly's survival.

Wildemount sucked. It was cold, rainy, and full of religious predjudice and grade-A _assholes_. And the further north Finn went, the less he liked the people. He wasn't looking forward to Shady Creek Run, not with what he'd heard, but the vision he'd had this past week was pretty clear- someone out here needed him.

The Stormlord didn't call on Finn for just anything, not after all this time. Very few things needed a cleric of his calibre, and he'd been mostly retired for years now, giving services at the Braving Grounds temple and spending time with his family. He still took contracts from the Slayer's Take now and again- it would take a lot more than old age to keep him from keeping his hand in just a little- but he'd long since learned that there were battles he didn't need to fight.

He frowned, pulled from his thoughts at the sight of a group standing in the road ahead, clustered around... someone on the ground? "Shit," Finn muttered, picking up his pace.

\-------  
Molly was... gone. Caleb hadn't expected to feel like this, losing one of the group, this broken feeling buried under a horrified numbness.

They had to do something. Find a cleric, or bury him, and Caleb knew perfectly well that the former would cost money they didn't have. Still, he couldn't quite get the words out to point this out to the group. Beau was weeping and trying very hard to hide it, and Nott looked... shattered.

He wished Fjord were here- Fjord would know what to do with all these people, all these feelings, how to get the group moving again. But Fjord- and Jester, and Yasha- not being here were exactly why this had happened, so that wasn't a thought worth chasing-

Someone was coming up the road. An older man- probably in his sixties- but in fighting shape, and carrying a shield that appeared to be wrapped in cloth for some reason, as well as a powerful-looking mace.

"Is everything alright?" the man called out, approaching faster.

" _No_ ," Beau shouted- perhaps a bit more forcefully than she'd meant to.

At that, the man broke into a run to reach them- "What's happened?"

"Our- our friend has-" Caleb began, faltering a little as he tried to find his voice under all the things he was somehow not feeling.

"Molly's _dead_ ," Nott snapped, sounding broken. "And our cleric is missing! All our friends are missing!"

The man let out a heavy breath. "I can't help much with missing people, but this one... he'll be alright, if he's willing to come back," he said, kneeling down to look at Molly. "Move him off the road and I'll get the ritual started. I should have enough diamonds on hand."

"And what will this cost us?" Caleb bit out.

"Free of charge, unless you've got alcohol, in which case, I'd like a drink when I'm done," the man replied. "My name's Finn Alpenbrace, by the way, and it's been a long time since I've needed to resurrect anyone- I'm happy to eat the cost of the spell just to help you all out. I've seen the sort of roadworn, shabby look you're wearing often enough than I'm well aware how likely it is that you can afford this sort of service at a temple."

"Hey!" Beau snapped, examining her clothes. "We're not- yeah, okay, we need an inn and a bath. But we don't look that bad, do we? I mean. Except for Caleb."

"This is mostly intentional," Caleb muttered.

"Why would you help us?" Nott asked, watching Finn warily as he and Keg moved Molly's body off of the road.

"Like I said, I don't get to do this much, and you look like you could use a little kindness," he replied. "Besides... the mission I'm on is probably going to get me killed- I'm getting to old for the St- for this sort of thing. If I'm going out, I want two things- to do as much good as I can for people on the way, and to go down fighting to the last. And one of those is easy- I never give up a fight that I might win- so right now I'm doing the other."

"For the who? You said for the Stuh and then changed what you were saying, who are you with?" Beau asked insistently.

"I'm an old cleric from Vasselheim, that's all. And if I survive, I'll be going back to Vasselheim, so it doesn't really matter, does it? I had a vision from my god, and I have a mission to complete to save someone he's interested in the survival of. Now, if you'd like your friend back, I'll need to get started."

"If it is the Stormlord who sent you, you may be going to rescue a friend of ours," Caleb said suddenly. "If it is not, then you must have different names for the gods than we do here, because the only other god I know that begins with such a sound is not one interested in altruism."

Finn glanced around at the group, then nodded briefly as he began setting up the ritual. "He isn't well-liked around here, and I've had to be careful not to say it thus far, but yes. I'm a follower of the Stormlord, from the Braving Grounds temple in Vasselheim. I've been sent after a group of slavers who've captured a follower of his that is... apparently important. Dangerous-looking girl with black-and-white hair."

Beau glanced at him, startled. "That's Yasha." She paused for a moment, then added, "We're going with you."

Finn laughed, just once, shaking his head. "No, you aren't, but I'll get your friends out. You said there were others?"

"Fjord and Jester- a half-orc and an adorable blue tiefling," Beau replied. "You've seen what Yasha looks like, I'm guessing, but if you haven't- look for the girl with arms like... like... really hot biceps. I'm bad at metaphors, sorry."

Finn snorted, chuckling. "You're terrible at metaphors, but it's alright. I've seen her, and I saw two others being dragged with her that sound like the two you described. It wasn't a long vision, mind, but I did get that much."

" _I'm_ coming with you. I want to fuck these assholes up, and this group was gonna be the backup I needed for that, but you look like you've got a better shot," Keg interjected.

"Still no. You'll get killed, and if I wanted backup myself, I have friends I could call on who I trust more than some half-grown adventurers I barely know. Accept that you're all out of your leagues here, for fuck's sake," Finn replied, "and let me bring back your friend."

Finn began the ritual, the soft melody of Celestial curling across his tongue as he cast a spell he'd only prepared in case the captives were already beyond saving. As he did, everyone fell quiet, the reality of what was happening finally beginning to hit them.

As the sound of Finn's voice came to a stop, the angelic echo of the ritual continued around them, the remnants of the Mighty Nein kneeling around Molly's body as Finn worked. "I'll need someone to convince him to return- up to three of you, actually. Offer whatever makes sense to you- I've seen all sorts of things work, speeches, songs, physical objects, shouting at the gods, praying to them... you never know what may help."

Nott leaned forward from Molly's right, and carefully slid rings off of her fingers and onto Molly's. "You have to come back. I need you to help me find grumpy people. And.... you're my boy, too, now. So I need you."

Beau stood up and stepped forward next, her hands tight on her staff as she stood at Molly's feet. "I don't have stuff for you, I just wanna remind you that if you stay dead then when Yasha gets free, she's not gonna stick with us, not without her best friend. And then I won't get to kiss her, and I'll have to come into the afterlife just to kick your purple ghostly _ass_ , and you don't want that. So get your ass back here, you _dick_ , because you're not allowed to die protecting me."

Caleb stood up, turning away from the ritual. "I am next, but I need just a moment to get something," he began, and walked over to the remaining horses, carefully gathering the fabric of the gigantic tapestry Molly had bought in Zadash. He folded it and gently laid it over Molly, covering him from feet to waist. "You are flashy and colorful and very, very beautiful, and you bring that color and light with you wherever you go, Mollymauk. I did not know what to make of you at first. To be honest, I still don't. But I would like to keep figuring it out, because you-" Caleb paused, choking up. "You make me feel things I had forgotten I could feel. And I would like a chance to... to see where that goes. To know if I am reading you correctly."

Caleb knelt down at Molly's left side again, and then, suddenly and in a single rushed breath added, "And also Yasha will miss you and I do not want her to be sad because she is my friend."

There was a pause, and everything was still save for the restless movements of the Mighty Nein as they waited, two of them kneeling on either side of Molly, and Beau standing, still as a statue save for her hands, which twisted back and forth on her staff nervously. A moment passed, then another, before finally Molly inhaled once again.

He coughed, groaning as he sat up. "Did we get-" he stopped suddenly as he saw that none of the friends they'd set out to rescue were with them. "What happened?"

"We got _curbstomped_. You died, and Keg talked Lorenzo into sparing us. Then after they left, some random cleric showed up, said he's on a mission to save Yasha for the Stormlord, and brought you back for _free_ ," Beau replied, as Caleb helped Molly to his feet. As soon as Molly was standing solidly, she punched him hard in the arm. " _Don't do that again_."

" _Bitte_. That was... I do not want to see that again," Caleb added.

Molly turned to Finn. "If you're going to save Yasha, we're-"

"Yeah, no, had that discussion, not happening, I don't have enough diamonds to pop you guys back up every three seconds, and it's not good for your souls anyway. If you fight the Iron Shepherds, you're going to get killed," Finn interrupted. "Been lovely meeting you, but unless one of you has-" At this, Nott pressed her flask into Finn's hand.

"Drink what you want and give it back, it'll refill on its own," she said. "Or you could fill something from it."

Finn pulled out a flask of his own, filled it, and then drank a good half a flask from Nott's. "Thanks. Now I have to get going, I'd like to get this over with in time to get back to Vasselheim for my nephew's birthday... assuming I make it back." He shot them a grin, passed the flask back to Nott, and began walking away. "Kord's strength to you all, and good luck surviving in this shitty empire!"

Molly watched him go, bending down to pick up his tapestry and haphazardly draping it over his shoulder. "He's a weird one. I like him."

**Author's Note:**

> I got sad after Talks because I'm having trouble believing there's any chance Molly will come back. And it occurred to me that the cleric I'm playing in my Exandria setting home game would be an aged, high-level adventurer by the time of campaign 2 (assuming he survives my whole campaign, but, eh, here's a world where he definitely does), because our setting is pre-VM by about a decade, and therefore about 30 years before the Mighty Nein. And Finn is a follower of the Stormlord, and has a strong relationship there, so it made at least a little sense for Finn to potentially be sent to Wildemount to try and help Yasha. Which, of course, would lead him across the Nein on the road to Shady Creek Run.
> 
> Depending on how Thursday's episode goes, this may be an ongoing series, just so I have a nice established setting where Molly is _fine_.
> 
> (I couldn't resist throwing in a little bit of my OTPs, but it's not much more than the show's given us- Beau showing unsubtle interest, Caleb showing much more subtle potential interest. If I continue this, it's going in a Widomauk direction just because... well, if I continue it, it'll be because Molly's gone for good on the show, so the show won't be giving me that.)


End file.
